it is said that about 60 % of all
the Mercedes driving in Albania are stolen from Western Europe.

The bicycle is not only my unique vehicle
of transportation but also my urban eyeglass - some extension of my visual
and acoustic organs. As such it is a real social urban interface. When
working with my dreams over an 8 months period I realized with surprise
that I was dreaming constantly of my bicycle in relationship to the apprehension
of my world. I'm a bicycle rider since early childhood. My first birthday
present I remember was a bicycle. I have never stayed in a place for long
without a bicycle, including in Tokyo where I was harassed daily by the
police for riding a bicycle. (I was considered a bicycle thief).

Today, 10/23/03, I just had this dream
about me bicycling against a crowd of Trachten wearing people. Trachten
are the traditional European clothes, associated with traditionalism,
'good old times' and right wing politics. (I m not saying that everybody
who wears these clothes does have a right wing agents but many might and
do, as do others in contemporary outfits). The last time, I saw a chorus
was in Modena for the opening of a group show where Maria Papandropulous
invited an Italian chorus - dressed in traditional clothes, lined up in
some formation - for some presentation. I really despised the fact that
the artist instrumentalized these singers and put them into an uneasy
situation where they had to sing songs for a public that basically was
making fun of them, that didn't pay any attention, that treated them as
if some kind of different species. People stood with the back towards
the chorus talking in loud voices while they were singing: "a great
piece" .. and other things. I expressed my complaint to Maria. Yesterday,
I received an email asking for photographs which I sent to her. She is
a great person and we got along very well. In fact I really like her at
least as much as I hate this 'conceptual placement'. This might have triggered
this dream. During the dream I was bicycling in the same style like in
Tirana against the crowds of Trachten wearing lines of people. The police
was chasing me and people tried to catch me. Quite a strange nightmare.
The bicycle is really - next to the computer and the radio - my most important
instrument for 'making it through my life'.